Frustrations about Aurora Energy’s recent power outages have extended to Omakau and surrounding communities.
Yesterday, Aurora Energy representatives met Omakau residents to discuss intermittent power outages over the past few months.
Aurora Energy shared slides about the fault line configuration connecting Omakau and provided context about the infrastructure of the lines.
Locals remained frustrated, and wanted to see more action.
Chatto Creek Tavern owner Fiona Sutherland said the power outages had a massive impact on local business, especially being on the Otago Central Rail Trail.
"The power outages have been happening around 7am during the week and on the weekends. As a business this is one of our busiest ... [times]," she said.
Aurora Energy general manager network operations and network performance Matt Steele said if having power cuts was a high business risk, then owners should consider investing in a generator.
Mrs Sutherland brought a generator six months after buying the business and was now needing to invest in another one as power cuts continued.
One attendee at the meeting said they had invested $25,000, because of how unpredictable the power outages had become.
Only six residents attended the afternoon meeting.
Mrs Sutherland said she needed to rearrange her work day in order to go to the meeting because of the time of day.
Mr Steele said they could not bring outages down to zero, but actions to support remote communities were being made.
He said Aurora was investing in a mobile generator, based in Alexandra, plus infra-red and acoustic inspection cameras to help quickly identify lines problems.
and a substation is being built 500m from Omakau hall.
